Sara Lee introduces whole-grain white bread

20/07/05 Sara Lee, which has introduced nine whole-grain and whole-wheat breads in the past three years, is giving white bread a nutritional makeover while retaining its long-desired taste. Sara Lee's newest innovation is a fresh bread that is so soft, smooth and white that even the most discerning white-bread lovers - children - won't know that it provides a good source of whole grains in every two-slice serving.

New Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread hits store shelves today across the country where Sara Lee breads are sold as a first of its kind - a bread made with a blend of enriched flour and whole-grain flour that gives tried-and-true white-bread lovers the taste, texture and appearance of white bread, but delivers whole-grain nutrition. In addition to its white-bread taste, Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread offers:

- A good source of whole grains per serving (two slices), or 8 grams

- A good source of fiber - 3 grams per serving, the same amount as 100% whole-wheat bread

- A good source of vitamin D and the vitamin B folic acid

- An excellent source of calcium

- No trans fat or artificial colors or flavors

Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread will be available at grocery stores wherever Sara Lee breads are sold. Suggested retail price for the 20-ounce loaf ranges from $1.99 and up, depending on the region of the country.

The company will support the launch of the new Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread through national television and print advertising, the largest coupon distribution ever behind a bread introduction and extensive sampling programs at professional baseball games. The launch support is part of a $30 million marketing campaign for Sara Lee brand fresh products this year.

In Chicago, Sara Lee will hold a taste test event Tuesday at the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier for children to try the new bread with peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches.

Whole-grain bread sales have increased dramatically over the past few years, but more loaves of enriched white sandwich bread are sold than any other kind of bread in America. Of the 5 billion pounds of packaged fresh bread sold in the past year, 47 percent of sales were white bread, the largest-selling segment. The combined segment of enriched wheat and whole-wheat sandwich breads accounted for 27 percent of sales, wide-pan bread loaves, which are particularly popular on the West Coast, accounted for 13 percent of sales, and other breads, such as rye, pumpernickel and cinnamon and raisin breads made up 13 percent of sales, according to Information Resources Inc. data ending June 12, 2005, the latest available. Information Resources tracks and projects bread sales in grocery stores and discount and mass merchandise stores.

The volume of white-bread sales declined 7.2 percent over the past year, while wheat and whole-wheat sandwich breads sales increased 3.4 percent, according to Information Resources data.

In the new MyPyramid Food Guide System, the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls for Americans to balance their consumption of whole-grain foods with enriched-grain foods and to consume at least three 1-ounce servings of whole-grain foods.

Studies have shown that the average American consumes less than 1 serving of whole grains a day, and more alarming, four out of 10 teenagers and children never consume whole grains.

Surveys also show that Americans understand the benefits of whole-grain foods, but the largest barriers to consuming more whole-wheat and whole-grain breads are color, texture, softness and taste.

White-bread lovers are very demanding in how their favorite white bread tastes. In developing its new bread, Sara Lee conducted numerous taste-test panels to evaluate different recipes, settling on a flour blend that uses approximately 70 percent enriched flour and 30 percent whole-grain flour. Recipes that used more than 30 percent whole-grain flour showed a significant drop off in consumer acceptance in taste tests.

Sara Lee is the No. 1 bakery brand in the combined breads, buns and bagels segment. Sara Lee's innovative portfolio of fresh breads, buns and bagels are designed to meet a wide variety of preferences and sensibilities - without sacrificing taste. Sara Lee-branded bread was first introduced in October 2002.

Sara Lee Food & Beverage is the leading North American retail food division of Sara Lee Corporation. Based in Downers Grove, Ill., SLF&B develops and sells many of the world's favorite high-quality baked goods, meats and coffee. Leading brands and products include Sara Lee fresh breads, frozen desserts and deli meats, Hillshire Farm lunchmeats, Jimmy Dean sausage and breakfast foods, Ball Park franks and the Senseo single-serve coffee system that uses the Douwe Egberts brand of European-style premium coffee.

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